GITA

Aurora, Colorado, USA, 21 February 2007 — The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) has announced the topics for four panel discussions scheduled to be presented at its 30th Annual Conference, slated for March 4-7, 2007, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas.

The four interactive panel discussions are the “Associations Panel,” “The Art of Building a Geospatial Consortium,” “Harnessing the Momentum of Consumer Applications,” and “Extending the Reach of Geospatial Technology.”

The “Associations Panel,” moderated by Directions Magazine Editor Joe Francica, will bring together leaders from four associations that serve the geospatial industry: The American Association of Geographers (AAG), the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC), GITA, the Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS), and the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA). Leaders from each these four associations will discuss the issues facing the geospatial industry and what their respective organizations are doing to address those issues.

“The Art of Building a Geospatial Consortium” will feature seasoned industry managers who have successfully planned, built, and managed geospatial consortiums. With the help of panel moderator Jaymes Purdue of InfoTech Enterprises America, the panelists will discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what to avoid when collaborating on the creation of a geospatial consortium.

A groundbreaking duo of panels: “Harnessing the Momentum of Consumer Applications” and “Extending the Reach of Geospatial Technology,” both moderated by editor Matt Ball of GeoWorld Magazine, will expore the new direction of geospatial from the nontraditional and traditional geospatial thought leaders.“Harnessing the Momentum of Consumer Applications” will offer a glimpse of how some of the major players in nontraditional, Internet-based businesses are planning to incorporate GIS technologies into their businesses and product offerings. Representatives from MapQuest, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and Yahoo!, will participate in the discussion.

“Extending the Reach of Geospatial Technology” will gather the heavy hitters in the geospatial software industry to discuss emerging technologies, enterprise integration, open systems, and more. This panel will give conference attendees the opportunity to learn what these industry leaders—whose organizations profoundly affect the future of geospatial software—are planning for the future. Autodesk, Bentley, ESRI, GE, and Intergraph will all be represented in the discussion.

All members of the global geospatial industry are encouraged to visit the GITA Web site at www.gita.org/annual and click on “Panel Discussions” to submit questions or discussion topics for the panelists. Selected submissions will be used as debate points for the interactive question-and-answer sessions that will be a part of each of the panel discussions.

The conference, noted for its high-quality education and unbiased approach, will also include 14 half-day seminars, 99 technical paper presentations, user discussion forums, networking socials, panel deliberations, and an extensive product and service exhibition. Online registration will close at noon Wednesday, February 28. On-site registration will open at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, March 3. For more information on the event, visit www.gita.org.